Food container unit



5% 193.. L. H. SCURLOCK FOOD CONTAINER UNIT Original Filed NOV. 7, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet l I 2, 1936. L. H. SCURLCJCK 2,2953? FOOD CONTAINER UNIT Original Filed Nov. '7, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented June 2, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Application November '1, 1932, SerialNo. 641,515 Renewed January 28, 1935 8 Claims.

This invention relates to sectional or compartment containers, such as group containers that are preferably mounted upon a rotary support, whereby the group of containers or container sections or compartments can be rotated to bring any particular one thereof to thefront, thereby to facilitate removal of the containers or container sections, by permitting any container or' section to be removed without disturbing the others.

Generally stated, the object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved construction and arrangement whereby the containers or container sections or compartments, which'latter are separable from each other, are arrangedin a group without any waste space between them, whereby. .practically the entire area orpspace enclosed in a given circle, which latter is the outer periphery of the rotary group of containers, is utilized for storage space, with practically no waste space except the area or space occupied by the walls or partitions'between the containers or the separable sections or compartments of the structure as a whole, thereby in effect toinsure practically a maximum utilization for"storage purposes'of the space within said structure, while at the same time permitting easy "removal of any "one of saidcontainers orsecti'ons' without disturbing the others.

Another object is to provide anovel andimproved construction and arrangement whereby a group of containers or container sections of this kind, preferably supported on a rotary support, is composed of containers or container sections or compartments of different shapes and sizes, but all arranged tightlytogether, with practically no lost space between them, whereby food or other commodities may be stored in containers or separable compartments of appropriate or suitable shapes and sizes, depending upon the character of the food orother commodity, as well as the quantity thereof.

It is also anobject to provide certain details and features of construction and combinations tending to increase the general-efiiciency'and the desirabilityof a sectional. oncomp'artment container structure of this particular character.

To the foregoing and other useful ends, the invention consists 'in matters hereinafter set forth and claimed and shown'in theaccompanying drawings, inwhich- Fig. 1.. is a plan'vie'w ofv a container structure embodying the principles of the invention.

2 is a perspective -'ofthree-of thediiferently shaped container sectionsinvolved in said structure.

Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse section on line 33 in Fig. 1 of the drawings.

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the rotary support upon which the container sections or separable compartments are supported for rotation about a vertical axis.

.As thus illustrated, the invention. comprises .a rotary support [,preferably made of sheet metal and provided at its outer edgewith an upturned flange 2, as shown. This flange is annular in form,.it will be seen, and the rotary support thus provided is supported by ball bearings 3 on. a stationary support 4, which latter mayalso be of'sheet metal. A center pivot 5 isprovided, providing the vertical axis upon which the support I is adapted to rotate, and a ball retainer 6 of sheet metal is also preferablyprovided, as shown, to retain the anti-friction balls in proper position in the circular raceways formed in thesupport I and the base or bottom member 4 of the structure thus formed.

-As shown, the rotary support I isprovided with four pairs of beads or ridges l, on its upper side, the members of each pair being parallel, whereby the four pairs are arranged radially on the top surface of the rotary support. In the spaces between said ribs or beads, slots or openings'lll are provided, for a purpose which will hereinafter more fully appear.

'Upon the said rotary support, there are arranged a plurality of containers, or container sections, 8, for example four, as shown, and it will be seen that these containers, or containerv sections, looking down on them, are practicallytriangular in' form, with their outer. sides curved to engage the inner side of the upturned flange '2, previously'mentioned. The inwardly converging sides of these container sections 8, at their lower. edges, engage the ribs or beads 1, previously mentioned, andare thereby held against .displacement on the rotary support. Also, there are substantially rectangular containers 9 arranged between the said triangular containers 8,' all arranged tightly together, and these substantially triangular containers, which are oblong, are

"disposed between the members of each pair of parallel beads or ribs 1, whereby the triangular and oblong containers thus provided are held against displacement, the outer side of each r-ectangularcontainer' 9 beingjformed to engage the inner sideof thejfiangei2, previously mentioned. At the center of the group, thereis a practically square container or container section ljll, abutting .into any one of four positions or places.

tightly against the containers 9, but for convenience of manufacturing purposes, slightly out of engagement with the containers 8 of the group. This container I8 is preferably a little higher than the other containers or container sections, as shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings, whereby its top may be grasped to remove this container from the group. But each of the other containers is removable by inserting a finger upwardly through one of the slots or openings 10 of the rotary support, sufficiently to raise the container or container section above the flange 2 of the rotary support, whereby any outer or peripheral container section may be readily pulled outward without disturbing the others.

As shown more clearly in Fig. 3, all of the containers preferably have flat covers or closures II, as shown, whereby the contents of the container sections may be protected andcovered.

Thus, it will be seen, looking at Fig. 1 of the drawings, that practically the entire space or area within the circle described by the flange 2, is utilized for the storage of food or other commodities, and that practically the only space not thus occupied is that necessarily occupied by the walls or partitions between the container sections. Even the center of the group is occupied by a relatively high container section that may be utilized for any suitable or desired purpose. With the container sections thus of different shapes and sizes, it is obvious that food or other commodities may be stored according to their characteristics, or their quantities, in a manner that will be more satisfactory in some cases than would be true if the containers, or container sections, were all of the same size and shape.

One advantage of the particular subdivision of the container structure into sections, as shown and described, is that the sections 8 are all of the same shape, thereby facilitating the manufacture thereof. Likewise, the container sections 9 are all of the same shape and size, thereby facilitating the manufacture thereof. In other words, the container sections 8 are all interchangeable, being of the same size and shape, and the sections 9 are also all interchangeable, being all exactly of the same size and shape. Therefore,

'in the assembling of the different container sections, there is no container sections, except the middle section Ill, that has any particular place allotted thereto, on the rotary support, for each of the outer container sections is adapted to fit But it will be understood, of course, that the invention is not limited to any particular size for the container structure, nor to any particular number of container sections or separable compartments.

Preferably, the container sections are made of glass, and are rounded at their corners, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, inasmuch as rounded corners are more practical in the manufacture of glass articles, especially hollow glass containers of this kind.

It will be seen that the bottom of the container section III is bulged upwardly, as shown, sufficiently to provide a cavity on the bottom of this container section for the head of the pivot bolt 5, previously mentioned.

A sectional or separable compartment container construction of this kind can be used for various purposes, and the rotation of the group will serve to bring any particular outer compartment section to the front, to facilitate its removal, and when the sections are made of glass, it is easy to see the contents of each section '8 and 9 come close together and practically engage each other, and that these covers are all in the same horizontal plane. But the cover of the middle section I0 is disposed in a higher plane, so that this middle container can be grasped at its top and lifted out of the group. Each section 8 is interchangeable with at least twoother sections of the same size and shape, while each section 9 is interchangeable with at least one other section of the same size and shape.

It will be seen that should a circle be made, in Fig. 1, touching the flat sides of the container section III, the sides of the sections 9 would then, be tangential to said circle, and that preferably these tangential sides between any two container sections 8 are parallel. Thus the sides of the substantially triangular sections 8 are also tangential, being formed on straight lines that also form the straight sides of the middle section ll) of the group construction.

Looking at Fig. 4 of the drawings, it will be seen that parallel ridges 1 co-operate with other ridges at right angles thereto, as shown, to in effect define rectangular and triangular container spaces at the top of the rotary support, the outer edge of each space being defined by the flange circle, and each notch 10 extending into either a rectangular space or a triangular space.

While the containers 8 are practically triangular in shape, and while the containers 9 are practically rectangular in shape, it will be observed that they all have right-angle inner corners,'inasmuch as the flat sides of each container are at right angles to each other, whereby the formations I provide only positions for containers having right-angle inner corners, the latter being essential to the proper functioning of said formations.

Hence the ribs or ridges or formations I define a plurality of practically rectangular spaces, and also a plurality of practically triangular spaces, on the upper surface of the rotary support.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. In a rotary container structure adapted to receive and support a group of circularly arranged containers in which adjacent containers have opposed fiat sides, the combination with a base, of a container support rotatably mounted on said base, the periphery of said container support being circular and being provided with upstanding circular flanges, the periphery of said container support being further provided with circumferentially spaced notches forming re-entrant portions exposing a portion of the bottom of each container, said notches forming the sole interruption in the continuity of the circular periphery of the container support and of the upstanding circular flanges, whereby the flanges may engage the lower portions of the containers to resist outward movement of the latter, and a plurality of upstanding ridges formed on the upper surface of the container support,

said ridgesbeing arranged in pairs, the ridges of each pair being parallel to each other and to a radial line intermediate the ridges and intersecting a notch, whereby said containers may be retained in assembled relation against unintentional displacement circumferentially of said support.

2. A structure as specified in claim 1, having some other ridges that extend at right angles to said parallel ridges, the latter and the other ridges co-operating to define both rectangular and triangular container spaces on the top of said rotatable support.

3. A structure as specified in claim 1, having some other'ridges that extend at right angles to said parallel ridges, the latter and the other ridges co-operating to define both rectangular and triangular container spaces on the top of said rotatable support, said notches each extending into either a rectangular space or a triangular space, the outer edge of each space being defined by jsaid flange circle.

4. In arotary container structure adapted to receive and support a group of circularly arranged containers in which adjacent containers have opposed fiat sides, the combination with a base, of a container support rotatably mounted on said base, the periphery of said container support being circular and being provided with upstanding circular flanges, the periphery of said container support being further provided with circumferentially spaced notches forming re-entrant portions exposing a portion of the bottom of each container, said notches forming the sole interruption in the continuity of the circular periphery of the container support and of the upstanding circular flanges, whereby the flanges may engage the lower portions of the containers to resist outward movement of the latter, and a plurality of upstanding formations on the upper surface of the container support, defining the positions of the containers thereon, two or more of said formations being disposed on lines parallel to each other and to a radial line intersecting two of said notches, adapted to hold the containers against displacement circumferentially on said support. 3

5. A structure as specified in claim 4, in which some of said formations are disposed on lines extending at right angles to each other.

6. A structure as specified in claim 4, in which some of said formations are disposed on lines extending at right angles to each other, and in which said notches are each disposed between the lines upon which said formations are located.

'7. A structure as specified in claim 4, in which said formations define a plurality of practically rectangular spaces, and also a plurality of practically triangular spaces.

8. A structure as specified in claim 4, in which said formations define only spaces having rightangle inner corners.

LEWIS H. SCURLOCK. 

